The King Of Redemption
by QueenApples
Summary: Henry Sr. has spent his death witnessing his daughter in misery, and after 28 years he can no longer take seeing her ignore her happy ending. So when offered the chance to return to the land of the living he will do whatever it takes to make sure Regina gets her true love. (Swan Queen). Story co-authored with 'withgirl'. Rating may be subjected to change.
1. Undesired Meetings

**Author's note: Hey there, this was to be my first fic ever, so my now co-author, withgirl, took pity on me and was kind enough to agree to do it with me, so we are now collaborating to make this story all the better. So, if you guys like it, send her some cuddles as well! (Also, you should totally read her fanfics, she's awesome u-u)**  
 **We don't have a beta and all errors are ours.**  
 **Neither of us own Once Upon A Time. Aalam character's is an semi-OC and he's based at the character of the King Of The Ballroom from the story "The Cold Heart" by Wilhelm Hauff, but we don't own that story neither.**  
 **Now, some people probably skipped this part but for those who haven't, thank you, and i hope you enjoy the story, now without further delay...**

* * *

 _Henry Sr. Sighed deeply in frustration._

 _He had given up his life for his daughter's happiness, and now as he watched her, it was painfully obvious that his sacrifice had been in vain._

 _"I hate you," his younger counterpart shouted, "you're not my real mom."_

 _Henry Sr. Began to pace the nothingness that had been his home for the past twenty-eight years. He knew that Regina had hurt this boy deeply, but he had also witnessed the more tender moments. He had seen her take a ridiculous number of photographs each day, seen her buy him overpriced presents, just to see him smile. He had seen all of the hugs, kisses and 'I love yous' that Regina herself had never been afforded as a child. As he watched these moments, he had often wondered how she had possibly become such a great mother, after all, neither of her parents were great role models._

 _But then Henry found that book, and Regina began to slip down a dark path again._

 _He had physically wanted to grab her and tell her off for some of the things she tried to do to the savior. He couldn't help but see the resemblance to Cora, and that worried him more than he would ever be able to fathom._

 _There's just nothing I can do, he internally grumbled while watching his daughter baking an apple turnover, and continued the pace of his own personal purgatory._

-Two years later-

"Maybe this isn't a good idea," Regina frowned.

Emma offered a small smile as she turned away from the Charming's front door, "it's going to be fine, trust me."

Regina nodded instantly, she only wished that she knew why she trusted this woman so much, by all rights I should absolutely hate her.

"Hey, Henry," Emma called while crossing the threshold.

Henry looked up from the couch, "hey mom," he replied, before returning his attention to his game.

Emma turned to see a pained expression on Regina's face, shaking her head she said, "put the game down, kid, there's someone you need to meet."

Henry grumbled, he started puberty already, Regina internally sighed.

"Hey, you're the woman from the diner, right?" he asked, finally having removed himself to stand in front of the newcomer.

"Don't be rude, Henry," Emma said hastily.

Henry groaned again, "fine, I'm Henry Swan."

Regina made an inaudible gulp and nodded, "Regina Mills."

Henry nodded, and after a moment Emma interjected, "Regina is the mayor of Storybrooke."

"Cool," Henry smiled.

Charming and Snow stood side by side in the kitchen, each feeling deep sorrow for the former Evil Queen.

"Well I was thinking that she could give you a tour of town tomorrow, I have a lot of work to do for the case," Emma explained.

Regina shot her a disbelieving look, but Henry just shrugged, "a tour would be nice I guess."

Regina nodded, and Henry began to eye his game.

"Fine, go and play it," Emma sighed.

The boy smiled, and turned to Regina, "it was nice to meet you."

Regina mirrored his smile, and stepped forward for the hug she had wanted for a long time, only for his hand to extend. With another inaudible gulp, she extended her own hands. Shaking her son's hand was one of the most surreal moments of her life yet, and it was not something she wanted to remember.

Henry jumped over the back of the couch, to be met with a scolding look from his blonde mother.

"Sorry mom," he sighed.

She actually makes a decent mother, Regina realized, how is it possible that she can be even more perfect than before?

She was brought out of her mental ministrations by the sound of a ringing phone.

"Hello," she said roughly.

"Mayor Mills, we have an issue," Whale replied.

"What could it possibly be now?" she groaned.

"He just woke up," Whale said fearfully.

"Not possible," she breathed.

Emma gave her a curious look, 'what?' she mouthed.

"I'll be right there," Regina quickly replied before hanging up.

"I'm sorry to leave so abruptly, but I have an urgent town matter to attend to," she announced for Henry's benefit.

With that she quickly rushed out of the apartment, only for Emma to emerge a second later, just as the mayor knew she would.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"It would appear that we have another villain to worry about," Regina explained.

"Who could it possibly be now?"

"It's not good," she said to herself.

"Regina, just tell me," Emma laughed.

"Do you know the story of The Cold Heart?" Regina sighed.

"Let me guess, it another person with no heart," Emma replied.

Regina nodded, "it's more like a stone heart, though I don't know how that would manifest without magic. Anyway a few days ago, Aalam appeared along with everyone else. To make a long story short he was hit by a car."

Emma nodded slowly, "that's horrible."

"Trust me Miss Swan, he is not a person that you want to be awake, why do you think I didn't bring him in the first place," Regina sighed.

"So you two have history," Emma asked with a tilted head.

"That's an understatement," Regina replied, before making to walk away, "are you coming or not?"

Emma quickly nodded and followed the mayor to the hospital.

-At the hospital-

Slowly coming to his senses, the latin man tried opening his eyes only to have to close them again because of the now, unfamiliar, sight of the light.

Still somewhat disorientated, he remained still. When opening his eyes was not quite as painful anymore, he took in his surroundings. The white was in everything, the walls, the roof, even the sheets who covered him.

But there was no time to be lost, he couldn't quite remember what, but there was something important for him to do. Slowly, he raised his arm, forgetting for a second his haste with all the effort it took for him to make this single movement, but, suddenly, he was hit with a rush of memories.

"Regina" his voice echoed through the walls in the gravelly tone of it, both from lack of use and for his emotions regarding the person in question.

How could he have forgotten her? No matter, he wouldn't allow himself that luxury again, he needed to find her. Summoning strength from where there previously was none, he stood up without a problem and determinedly walked with a little smile adorning his face, if his plan went the way he wanted it to, Regina would finally get the ending she deserved.

-Some time later-

Whale didn't quite knew what to do, the infamous King of The Ballroom had awaken and the Evil Queen was coming to meet him, a encounter that, if rumors were right about the previous ones between these two, would only end in tragedy and possibly some deaths, but, right now, he was feeling more inclined to believe at the mayor's "quest of redemption" then that the man in front of him had no sinister plans.

"I'm sorry your majesty but we can't just release you without making the necessary checkups, magic or not you were in a coma!" Whale tried putting on his best commanding expression and voice to try and convince the man that he couldn't simply walk away from the hospital when he wanted.

"You just said it yourself, young boy, I am the King and I will do as I please" One harsh glare mastered in years of posture classes from the royal caused Whale's pose to vanish, but luckily for the doctor, he didn't need to come up with any other reply.

"You are no King in this world, Aalam." Replied the regal woman followed by the savior.

"Regina..." The man whispered with an unknown emotion adorning his voice. A reaction that made said woman narrow her eyes in apprehension, there was something different, maybe, less... rigid in the man's posture and his eyes also looked warmer than when she last met him, overall, there was something different about him, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I-" he took a step forward, only earning a glare from the brunette and a warning glance from the blonde. Different on not, Regina wasn't even near ready to start believing in him, she had been fooled by his acting skills once; she refused to do it twice.

"I'd like to apologize." Aalam said, fidgeting a little with his hands.

"Ha! After all you did. You really think I will fall for your lies again?" The venom in her voice made him flinch briefly, but just as fast as he arrival had diminished it, his confidence was back.

"No. I don't expect you to forgive me so easily, but I am ready to prove myself." With that he walked away in search of the doctor, who had long fled the scene, to undergo these said "check-ups"

-Outside the hospital-

Regina and Emma had been walking in silence for some time. Regina being plagued with memories, and angry at the audacity of that man to not only show himself to her, but to try and feed her ridiculous lies all over again. While Emma remained silent observing the signs of stress on the other woman's face and resisting the urge to sooth them, but overall she was also confused, that man hadn't seemed all that threatening and her super power told her he was being truthful, but again, Regina knew him better and her super power could always be wrong.

"What exactly did he do?" After some minutes the blonde couldn't quite contain her curiosity anymore and that silence had started to get annoying.

"Doesn't matter." The brunette replied defensively.

"Ok, ok, calm down" said the blonde while taking the other woman by the shoulders. "I'm not the enemy here, you don't have to tell if you don't want to, if you say we shouldn't believe him, I won't, but sulking around isn't going to help anyone."

Sighing, the brunette took her advice and tried to alleviate some of the pressure on her shoulders by rolling her neck and Emma couldn't quite help but admire how she was able to make the gesture look regal.

"Thank you" said the mayor at last, offering a little, but genuine smile to Emma, who grinned broadly back at her. "I'm too tired with all that is happening, first there's Henry then Aalam, not to mention a whole missing year."

"Then go and get some rest, madam mayor, I'm sure the town will hold itself up while you're away," offered the concerned sheriff with a little smile on her face.

After spending sometime lost in each other eyes they finally realized how close they were. Then Emma promptly released Regina's shoulders and stepped back, while nervously rubbing her neck and laughing a little, only getting a little smile in response from the fidgeting brunette.

After saying their goodbyes, each of them went their own way, both having forgotten their worries for a second and only wondering why being so close to each other had such a effect on them, and how much they just wanted that closeness back.

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 **Aaaand that's it u-u, please review o/**

 **See you guys next chapter (hopefully)**


	2. Anger

**A/N: I forgot to mention at the previous chapter but the italics are for flashbacks, ok? u-u**

 **This story is a collaboration between me and withgirl, so please send her some of your love xD**

 **Neither of us own Once Upon A Time (or we'd be somewhat rich and not have to worry about college xD) nor do we own the story The Cold Heart by Wilhelm Hauff.**

 **Please review! If not, then i wish you enjoy this story nonetheless ^^.**

 **All errors are ours u-u**

* * *

Chapter two

 _"That arrow almost took off my head."_

 _"That trap nearly took off your arm. Where I come from a simple 'thank you' would suffice."_

 _"Where you come from people bathe in the river and use pine cones for money."_

 _Henry Sr. Smirked triumphantly as he watched his daughter._

 _Since he had found out that this Robin Hood was meant to be her True Love, he began to dislike him more and more with each passing moment._

 _The thief supposedly had an honour code, and yet he just seemed to do whatever he wanted, always believing that he was doing it for the 'greater good'._

 _But then there was the saviour. Henry had watched the innumerable times Emma Swan had saved Regina. He had seen the yearning looks from the blonde, every time Regina turned away, and he was really becoming sick of it!_

 _He began to resent being trapped in purgatory more than ever. All he wanted to do was walk up to his daughter and shout at her for ignoring what was right in front of her. Fate had quite literally offered Regina a family, and yet she still seemed unable to take it. The sad truth was that he knew that was partly his fault._

 _He had never even tried to force Cora to be a caring mother, so how could expect his broken daughter to be able to recognise love?_

 _He deeply wished that she would be able to return to Emma soon, maybe the saviour could gather the courage to do something about her feelings?_

 _With a sigh he watched his daughter stare angrily at the thief, she better not listen to that fairy, he thought._

-Present time-

"Are you okay?" Emma asked while pulling up to Milfin Street.

Regina looked sadly at the empty mansion for a moment before nodding, "I'm fine Miss Swan."

The mayor began to get out of the car, but the blonde grabbed her arm and pulled her back down, "you know you shouldn't bottle up your feelings, right?"

Regina scoffed, "I've done it for years, I assure you, I am an expert."

Emma tilted her head in disbelief, "and look at how that turned out, your majesty."

"I may not have dealt with my emotions well-"

It was Emma's turn to scoff, "Regina, you were the freaking Evil Queen."

"Was?" Regina choked out.

Emma furrowed her brow, "yeah, of course. You can't possibly see yourself as still being evil."

"Well most of the town seems to think I had something to do with the missing year, and let's face it: I probably did," she sighed.

Emma rolled her eyes, "you really need to stop listening to the townspeople."

"We can't rule out the possibility."

"And why would you wipe your own memories?" Emma asked with an exasperated sigh.

Regina just shook her head.

"Are you thinking about Aalam?"

"This had nothing to do with him," she shouted, before deflating at Emma's expression. "I really don't feel like talking about him."

"At least tell me who he is."

"All you need to know is that he is a bastard who poses no threat to anyone in this town. Our lives will be better if we just ignore him," she replied with crossed arms.

Emma nodded, "well you know where I am if you ever do want to talk about him."

Regina looked ahead for a few moments, before giving the saviour a small nod, and leaving the car. Before closing the bug's door she turned with a sigh, "thank you, Emma, for everything."

"No problem," Emma smiled.

-The next morning-

Aalam stopped in his tracks as he inspected his surroundings, where the hell am I? He wondered, noticing a sign that read Granny's. The last thing he remembered was one of those strange moving metal contraptions hitting him, he could remember waking up or receiving medical treatment in anyway, did I imagine the whole thing?

He simply shook his head before a strange sensation made itself known.

He brought a shaky hand up to his chest, placing over where piece of stone should be. He received many strange looks, but they went unnoticed, as his breathe was taken away by the feeling of a beating heart. He long since traded his heart to lead what he believed would be a better life.

A rush of unfamiliar emotions rushed through him, almost as if they had accumulated overtime.

The sound of heels pounding the pavement brought him out of his shock, and he saw the one and only Regina Mills walking with a small brunette boy. She seemed to be explaining something to him, and most strange of all, she had a huge smile on her face, something he hadn't seen in a while.

 _"Daniel, let go of me," Regina giggled, with a huge smile._

 _The stable boy just laughed, and placed her down, before planting a kiss on the smaller woman._

 _Aalam made a sharp intake of breath as jealousy began to overwhelm him._

 _"Aalam, is mother coming?" Regina asked worriedly._

 _The servant shook his head, leaning against the stable door; he had been tasked with watching out for Cora, so that Regina could have some time with Daniel. He loved Regina as s sister, but he still wished that this would end soon. He just couldn't stand to watch the man he loved be so desperately in love with another._

 _Shaking his head, Aalam looked away from Regina; he wished with all his being in that moment that she wasn't so happy._

 _"Aalam?" the young queen asked desperately._

 _The former servant clenched his jaw, "I am no longer in your service, your majesty," he sneered._

 _"You can't leave, I'll be all alone with him, you can't leave," she cried_

 _"I have no interest in remaining in your service for my entire life," he replied with a cold expression._

 _Regina suddenly launched forward and gave him a unpermitted hug, "please, don't leave."_

 _Pulling away slightly she placed a hand on his chest, only to furrow her brow. Moving her palm down slightly, she still felt nothing, "did mother do something..."_

 _Pushing her back slightly he said, "I chose this."_

 _"Chose what?" she cried._

 _"Love is weakness, with my stone heart I can be ten times the man I was before."_

 _"Love isn't weakness," she retorted._

 _"Well Daniel's love for you certainly wasn't his greatest strength," he sneered._

 _Regina looked at him blankly for a few moments, before more tears began to fall down her face, "fine, leave," she whispered, before walking away._

Aalam gulped, as regret began to engulf his very being, shaking his head he looked towards the other side of the street, The Rabbit Hole? he thought, before making his way towards what he sincerely hoped was a pub.

* * *

Waking up, Aalam couldn't quite remember where he was, but he was sure he wasn't sober.

Deciding that going home was the best course of action, he tried to stand and with a little more effort and some stumbling, he was able to, but stopped his movements after hearing someone mention the Evil Queen.

"'After all you have done!' Says the Evil Queen! Funny how we are supposed to forget what she has done just like that but she seems to have the right not to!" Aalam heard a short, fat man with a beard that really needed some trimming, shout, and he had to stop himself from screaming a reply of how she had all the right to do so because he deserved her anger but she had already proven herself as a different person enough times to at least get a second chance.

"That guy may not be a king anymore, but she is no queen either!" There were some few agreements from the people hearing and some shouts of the guy's name, Grumpy apparently, a name fitting for the person, Aalam decided.

"Whatever that guy did, she deserved it!" Aalam could live with them being angry at her, but she wouldn't stand there while these people wished something like that to her, so, in one swift move the Latin man used all his muscle power to run to where the man was and to hit him with all his might.

* * *

The sheriff couldn't quite believe the situation she was in. Merely a day after she got that scare from Regina about a new bad guy and he already had caused trouble.

Looking at the cell in front of her made her shake her head. Apparently the guy had, for some reason, decided to attack Grumpy, only to be given back all he had done by the dwarf's friends.

"Why did you think it was a good idea to attack a guy with all his friends there to see?" Shaking her head harder, she stood up to take the melting ice pack he had been using to nurse his head injury, and, with a mocking tone, completed. "Missing the hospital already?" she got only a little laugh and friendly smile in response.

Observing him, she couldn't help but think how good an actor he had to be, because he just didn't seem threatening at all. But, again, he had just gotten himself into a fight, so whatever farce he had in mind, it was probably out of the window by now.

"Look, here's the thing, you seem like a good guy, but Regina said not to trust you, so I won't. Whatever plan you may have, I will not make it any easier for you to put it into play. So, if you want to get out of this cell, you better come up with a really good excuse for assaulting Grumpy."

"He deserve it! There's no reason for me to be here!" He shouted while getting up, visibly upset.

'So, there it is' Emma thought, he really wasn't all that friendly was he? But, still, he didn't seem all that scary to her. But then, she remembered Regina mentioning something about him not being a threat to the town, so, maybe, he probably just had done something to the woman herself. Sighing the sheriff really wished to get some answer about this guy for once.

"And why is that?" She asked, not really expecting a good reason at all, only assuming the guy was just one of these really self centered people who thought all they did was right.

"How could I just stand by while he talked things like that about Regina?!" Now that was an excuse that hadn't even crossed her mind. It certainly sounded like Grumpy to be talking badly about the mayor. "He doesn't know what happened to her! He doesn't know anything! How can he just assume she deserves even half of what was done to her?! How?! Someone needed to put him into his place! And that's what I did!"

"And what gives you any right to do that, hm?" She said back to him, because as much as she would also have wanted to punch the dwarf herself if he said anything about the brunette in front of her, she knew it still wasn't the right approach, and this man had no right to anything regarding Regina after hurting her more than Grumpy ever did or could.

"I might not know half of what happened between you and Regina, but I've gathered enough to know you were one of said people that hurt her. What gives you the right to go punching people? Where were you to punch the people who were actually doing something to hurt her, back in the Enchanted Forest? Oh, that's right, you were too busy being one of them!" She just got more and more angry about that man when she remembered Regina's face of worry and the hurt in her eyes while talking to him at the hospital.

"I may have had no right to punch that man, but I did anyway, because if I didn't, no one else would." He said with a finishing look in his eyes and turned away from the blonde to sleep.

Observing her prisoner, Emma started to reanalyze their interaction. He somehow seemed really passionate about Regina, like he needed to protect her, but, for some reason, he had betrayed Regina one way or another and now he was determined to win her back. 'What exactly was the nature of their relationship?' Just getting more and more flustered with her lack of answers, the sheriff decided to go on patrol.

Getting out of the building, she run straight at her mother.

"Oh, Emma, there you are." Snow said with her best mothering smile while her hands stopped at her daughter's arms to stop the impact they were about to have. "I was just passing by and decided to say hello."

"Hey mom..." Answered the blonde while sighing and giving her mother a reluctant smile. Her palpable tension making Snow instantly worried.

"What's wrong honey?" Said the short brunette now rubbing her arms in, what she hoped, was soothing way.

"Nothing-" Was her instant reply, but it was stopped halfway through by her mother's look of 'no bullshit'. Hesitantly, she considered talking to Snow about the tall, mysterious man, and after coming to the conclusion that Snow might actually be able to give her some answers, she gave in.

"It's just that there's this guy called 'Aalam' or whatever that got Regina all worried and now he got into a fight to, apparently, 'protect her honour' or some bullshit like that and I just am really confused as to what exactly happened between them!" She said all in one breath, earning herself an amused look from Snow.

"Aalam you say? Hm... I do remember someone with that name, you mean, a really handsome, tall, latin guy, with broad shoulders, black hair and brown eyes?" She got an eager nod from her daughter, the blonde was rather curious about him. "I don't really know much about him, just that he was her servant. But I do remembered he was around Regina a lot, wherever she went, he went too, they were inseparable! When I was older I actually considered if he actually wasn't 'serving' her in more ways than one, I certainly saw my father being jealous of him some times."

The short woman kept on rambling about how oblivious she was as an child for not noticing how close they were, only proving that she was still just as oblivious by not noticing the clench of the blonde's jaw and the jealousy burning into her eyes, nor how, the now free from her grip blonde, got away as fast as she could because she couldn't bare the idea of imagining Regina being romantically involved with anyone, even less to hear about it.

* * *

 **A/N²: Here it is, thank you guys for reading! And for withgirl to helping me create this!**

 **See you guys next chapter!**


	3. Something Off

**A/N- And here are me and withgirl again into another chapter o/**

 **No beta, all mistakes are ours!**

 **We don't own neither OUAT nor** **The Cold Heart by Wilhelm Hauff.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter three

 _"I can't stand this anymore!" Henry Sr. shouted into the surrounding darkness._

 _He had spent the past thirty years watching daughter be miserable and he couldn't take it any longer._

 _From his position of omniscience, he knew exactly what she needed, but he had no way of talking to her._

 _The nine years before Henry Jr. had found that story book had been the happiest days of Regina's life. But even then, her father could tell that there was something missing, namely a romantic love._

 _As one of the few people who truly knew Regina, he had seen through the facade she kept up around 'Miss Swan'._

 _He saw the moments when Emma turned away, how Regina seemed to wish to call her back. How she seemed to trust the blonde so completely. Most importantly he had seen Emma return those feelings so completely and utterly._

 _He was just becoming so frustrated with their stubbornness._

 _He wished with all of his heart that he could be physically near Regina just one more time, to tell her to stop being so stubborn for once in her life._

 _He watched the coffee cup clatter to the floor in Granny's diner, and the look of complete pain and shock on Regina's face upon seeing Henry and Emma._

* * *

-Present day-

Emma stumbled into Granny's and sat heavily onto one of the stools.

"What's up, Emma?" Ruby asked with a furrowed brow and a small laugh.

Emma shook her head, "just a long day, can I get a coffee?"

Ruby offered her a smile, and placed a mug in front of her within a few minutes, before walking away to take other orders. Emma propped her head on her hand, and began to absentmindedly swirl the coffee. Why do I care so much? she wondered. Once she had found out that Aalam and Regina could possibly have been lovers, she felt intense jealousy overtake her, but she also felt anger.

 _Did he break her heart like everyone else?_

"That's ten bucks," Ruby said in the background.

"Bucks?" an unfamiliar male voice asked.

Emma turned to see a blonde man, looking very confused.

"Hey," Tinkerbelle interrupted.

"Hey," Emma sighed, "why are you so happy?"

"I found the man with the lion tattoo," she smiled.

"Meaning?" Emma asked, still looking curiously at the man.

"That man there, Robin Hood, he's Regina's soul mate, I can get my wings back," Tink replied excitedly.

A shattering sound filled the diner as Emma's coffee cup exploded. Emma looked in shock at her burnt hand, before shaking her head, "how do you know?" she choked out.

"Emma..." Tink began worriedly.

"How do you know?" Emma asked again.

"Fairy dust, Regina asked me to find her true love while she was still with Leopold, but she was too afraid to do anything about...your hand..."  
Ruby walked over, "are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Emma bit out, throwing some money on the counter she quickly said, "I really need to go."

* * *

Aalam woke up and looked around the strange looking apartment.

Realizing that he must have had another blackout, he decided that some fresh night air might do him some good, only for someone to walk into him.

"What the hell, Aalam!" Emma shouted.

"Err...do I know you?"

"Are you freaking kidding me, what is wrong with you?" the blonde asked with narrowed eyes.

Aalam just continued to look at her in utter confusion. Too distracted, neither of them heard the sound of heels hitting the sidewalk.

"Emma...what's happening?" Regina asked cautiously, having noticed the saviour looking ready for murder, she figured she should probably try and diffuse whatever situation Aalam had caused.

"He's pretending as if he's never met me, there's something off about this guy."

Regina inspected him for a moment, "he does seem different, but why should he recognise you. At the hospital he only just woke up-"

"I released him from holding about an hour ago," Emma explained.

Aalam shook his head, "I don't-"

"What did he do?" Regina sighed.

"He had a bar fight with Grumpy," Emma said triumphantly, seeing that Regina was clearly still pissed at him.

"You attacked an angry dwarf?" she asked in disbelief.

"I have no idea what either of you are talking about!" Aalam shouted, becoming very aware of how irritatingly fast his heart was beating.

Regina looked at him in shock, "did you just feel anger?"

Aalam ran a hand across his face and took a calming breath, "I didn't do anything to be accosted by this woman, please just leave me alone."

"Why did you attack Grumpy?" Regina asked after he had turned away.

"I didn't-"

"Apparently, Grumpy said something bad about you," Emma said, and Regina shot her a curious look, what is up with her?

"You were defending my honour?" Regina laughed bitterly, "don't you think you're a bit late?"

Aalam ran his hand through his hair and took another calming breath, before simply walking back to the safety of his apartment.

* * *

-Inside his apartment-

He couldn't understand what had just happened.

Had he met that blonde before? Emma was it? He couldn't remember.

More importantly, when had he and Regina talked? And he had got into a fight? Because of her...? But why?

Most of his questions went on without response, but the last was answered by the guilty he suddenly felt in his heart only by thinking of the, now, shoulder lengthened haired brunette.

 _Wait, what is this? Why am I... **feeling**?!_

Placing his hand on his, once before, stoned heart he could feel it beating and panic started to overwhelm him. His heart was back the way it should, and he was feeling all he hadn't for the last god knows how many years.

 _What have I done?_

Falling to his knees he remembered when he had first felt and how right after, while dazedly walking through the streets, one of these strange metal creature, _I heard someone call it a car, I think_ , had come his way and then everything went dark.

 _Did I injure my head? Is that why I keep forgetting things?_

He said while checking his head for any injure and trying to remember receiving medical treatment, the fight, Regina, _hell, even that Emma woman would be good enough, I just need to remember something! Argh, it's just too much!_

Was his thought, right after blacking out once more.

* * *

-Outside the apartment-

After Aalam walked away, Regina stopped to observe Emma for a second.

The blonde seemed really stressed about something.

"Emma are you alright?" The blonde took a calming breath before answering.

"I'm fine." Said abruptly the, still jealous, blonde while crossing her arms defensively, only to receive a lifted eyebrow and a overall disbelieving look that only served to agitate her even more.

 _Why does she have to be so attractive all the time?_ thought Emma while turning away to look anywhere else but at the, now even more worried, brunette.

"You know you can talk to me, right?" Said the mayor with furrowed eyebrows, trying to meet her eyes.

 _God! And she's even being all sweet, that's so not what I need to hear while I'm try to figure out my feelings for her!_

"Yeah, whatever." Was her dismissive response.

"Ok Emma you don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, but that doesn't give you the right to talk to me using that tone." Said the now offended brunette, she had been trying to be understanding but she was already feeling a bit vulnerable after the confrontation with Aalam and, so, she went to the defensive.

"Oh really? You mean like the way you talk with everyone, all the time?!" Now the blonde knew she was just trying to buy a fight, but she couldn't help herself. Fights were safe, this other feeling? Not so much. "Or just how you use your anger when you don't want to talk?" She finished, getting closer to her.

"So that's what this is all about? You are angry because I didn't talk to you about Aalam? You said I didn't have to talk about it if I didn't want to!" Now she was just outright pissed, what was up with the blonde? She just couldn't understand the woman sometimes.

"And you don't! But neither do I!" Said the blonde while angrily pointing to herself.

"I was just trying to help! I didn't force you to do anything!" The brunette got even closer to the blonde, their noses now barely touching.

"Don't!" The lights on the street started to flicker. "Just leave me alone!" This time the lights exploded, but the women were too focused on each other to notice.

At the same time, the Charmings were walking back home together when the lights in front of them exploded, sharing worried glances, they started to run, only to see what they could faintly recognize as Emma and Regina really close to each other, their expressions obscured by the dark of the night.

Looking each other deep in their eyes the two women felt themselves calm down. But both refused to step back, only getting closer instead, furtive glances to lips and to each other's eyes were exchanged, until they just gave in and simultaneously closed their eyes.

Emma could feel Regina's sweet breath on her skin. Just as Regina felt Emma's hands go to her waist and responded by putting hers on the blonde's arms.

Finally ready to close the final distance, they were interrupted by an angry, inhuman screech coming from above.

Jumping apart they got ready to react, and protect each other, but just as they identified the figure of _a flying monkey? Really?_ thought Emma, he was already coming in their direction, only giving them enough time to roll out of its trajectory.

But they didn't have to prepare themselves for another attack because the monkey was stopped, giving one final screech, by a flying sword.

Running up to them David took his sword and helped both women to their feet.

The silence that surrounded them after that was maddening, so Emma took upon herself to break it.

"Why are you walking around with a sword?" That was the first thing that came to her mind, but anything was good enough to avoid what had just barely happened there.

"Well, we have another villain walking around and your mother is pregnant so I thought it was safer to walk armed. At least during the night." He wasn't even near ready to talk about what seemed to be happening before the monkey appeared, and he was more than happy to go along with Emma's attempt of distraction. Unfortunately for them, the same couldn't be said about his wife.

"What was happening before-" She was interrupted by Regina.

"I will go and try to figure out where this monkey came from." Said the, now, not so regal, woman while she teleported back to her mansion before a response to her statement could be uttered.

"Yeah, I will do that too, and I will be working the night shift so you guys shouldn't wait up for me." Said the blonde while running away the faster she could.

The Charmings only stood there, Snow being angered for not getting an answer and Charming relieved because of it.

Snow opened her mouth to try and talk about it with her husband.

"Don't." He interrupted with a hand raised. "I still need time to process it, and by the look of it, so to they." He finished with a serious look to Snow, who just gave him a small smile and began to walk home.

* * *

 **A/N - And that's it, hope you guys enjoyed it!**

 **Any comments on how to improve it or what you would like to see next are welcome.**

 **But if you just want to say something like 'Cool' I won't complain either xD**

 **Have a nice day! Until next!**


	4. Jealousy

**A/N - And after suffering from a hard case of laziness and writer block (in my case, withgirl was just tired from work) we're back and kicking o/**

 **We don't own anything besides the plot of this story o/**

 **All mistakes are ours.**

 **So, to those who have given this story a chance and are reading this, thank you! Now on we go!**

* * *

 **Chapter four**

In her haste to get away, Regina materialised on a random dirt road, and let out a sharp breath of air.

 _What just happened?_ She wondered, unable to remove the vivid memory of having Emma Swan so close to her.

She shook her head and decided a walk would clear her mind. After some time she stopped and took in her surroundings, she realised that she have poofed herself to somewhere near some kind of farmhouse. _Why would I come here?_ She thought with a frown. _A farmhouse and a flying monkey?_ Regina closed her eyes in frustration, _the Wicked Witch of the West, really?_ She thought.

As she continued her walk, she racked her brain, trying to come up with who could possibly be the Wicked Witch, but she decided that she would probably remember having met a green skinned woman. _Maybe this isn't a personal vendetta for once._

As she got closer to the small building, her thoughts returned to the blonde. She knew that they tended to have highly charged arguments, but their most recent was like nothing she had ever experienced before. The saviour had been a breath away, if that monkey had been a moment later, she was sure that it would have witnessed their first kiss.

 _But why would I want to kiss that infuriating woman?_

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of bustling leaves, looking around she found herself unable to identify the perpetrator. "Show yourself you winged freak!"

In response, a blonde man popped up, brandishing a cross-bow, he fired without hesitation. Catching the arrow, she looked at the man in annoyance.

"I'm terribly sorry," he ran forward towards the mayor, "I thought you were one of those flying creatures."

Regina inspected the man for a moment, before rolling her eyes as she replied, "well clearly you were wrong."

"Clearly," he answered with a small smile. Holding out his hand, he silently asked for his arrow back.

Unconsciously, Regina's eyes fell to his wrist, and she made of sharp intake of breath. Clear as day through the light of the moon, was the lion tattoo that she had run away from all those years ago. However, looking at the man, she found it very hard to believe that he could be her soul mate, especially since she had just now started considering another that may have been right in front of her all this time.

"Robin of Locksley, at your service."

"A thief," she replied, and trying desperately to come back to her senses, she added while she dropped the arrow into his hand, "you think you can take down a witch with sticks."

"Witch?" he asked with a frown.

"Just a working theory."

"Well then, perhaps I could help you to look into this theory," Robin smiled.

An image of a blonde that she would much rather have helping her came to mind, but she quickly shook her head, "I suppose you could try."

* * *

Away from there, the Charmings were out on an evening stroll.

"Storybrooke can't really just calm down, can it?"Snow said as a half-joke. Symbol of hope or not, having to fight villains in and out was rather tiring, even more so now that she was pregnant, and she knew that it wouldn't get much better once the baby was born.

"I don't think it can," he smiled at his wife and caressed her growing stomach.

"What will we do once the baby is born though?" she decided to voice her concerns. "We can't just go on running around with a baby in our arms while fighting villains and I am not comfortable with the idea of letting you and Emma run off to harms way while I stay home."

When she first started talking the thought of propositioning that she stayed home but she already had added her argument before he could even propose it and truth be told, he couldn't really imagine himself in a fight without his wife by his side.

"Well... maybe we could find a babysitter?" It was the first solution he could think of.

"But who? I don't really know anyone interested in babysit-" She was interrupted by a blue eyed woman that sported a big smile.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help but listen. You said you needed a babysitter?"Asked the red haired woman, she was tall and her eyes had a strange glint at them, but Snow and

David, trusting as they were, didn't notice anything truly amiss about her. With a quick glance at her husband, the short haired brunette answered the woman's smile with one of her own.

"Yes, actually. Why do you ask?" Was her verbal response.

"I have always loved children and am in need of a job, so if you would let me, I'd love to take on the position." Said the woman in the most sweet tone she could muster.

"Oh, really? We'd actually love the help." Charming inserted himself in the conversation. "You can calls us David and Snow. And you are?"

"Zelena. Call me Zelena." The glint in her eyes shined more bright when she shook hands with the Prince.

* * *

After searching the farmhouse and not finding anything particularly interesting, she decided that had been just a waste of time, and to think she had to endure all that restlessness for nothing. Because the more time she spent with the thief, the more she felt like she was doing something wrong, like she was betraying Emma just by being there.

 _This is ridiculous, we didn't even kiss for God's sake! Why would I feel like I owe her anything?!_

Getting increasingly frustrated with her inability to stop thinking about a certain blonde long enough to search properly, she decided to truly call the search short and go home. She could always come back later.

"This isn't really going anywhere. I will come back to search when there's more light." She said out loud to the thief as a dismissal and started to walk away.

"Wait! It's dangerous to walk alone through the wood at this time of the night." He said, stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. Shrugging his hand off the brunette laughed a little.

"Don't worry, dear, I am the most dangerous thing that could be in these woods, and, besides, who said anything about walking?" She said with a amused smirk and teleported before a response could be uttered, leaving behind a blinking thief that only shrugged and laughed a little.

* * *

-The next day-

Walking inside the dinner Emma was feeling extremely tired, she hadn't slept one blink, having instead spent the whole night damning that monkey to all hells and thinking about what could have happened if only he had come later, or even better, not at all, but, then, her parents would have seen it all and the situation would have been even more awkward than it was now.

Sighing, she sat at her usual booth and put her face in the palm of her hands while she waited for Ruby to come take her order.

"Hey, Em, you look awesome today," greeted the waitress full of sarcasm.

"I **feel** 'awesome' as well." She sighed. "I just really need a coffee, ok, Rubes?"

"Right on." She replied before giving her a wink and retreating to the counter.

"Oh, so that's how these work?" Emma heard a vaguely familiar voice say.

"Glad to see you understand, dear, and here I thought I'd have to draw it. Now, if you will excuse me." Another voice said but **that** voice and that sass she would recognize even in her sleep. Raising her head the blonde saw the brunette standing from her seat still rolling her eyes, and without even glancing to where she was seated, walked away from the diner.

 _Great, now she's ignoring me. Granted, I **was** being an asshole yesterday, damn, I need to fix this._

Passing her fingers through her hair in a nervous gesture she tried to gather some courage to go after the brunette, only to feel dread when she glanced to where the woman was seated and recognized the person Regina was talking to as the man who Tink had pointed out as her soulmate, who currently was counting some money as if he never had dealt with this kind of currency before, which he probably hadn't.

Feeling more and more pissed off the blonde decided to walk away from the diner before she punched the man out of nowhere, or exploded something with her magic.

Getting up she only stayed long enough to briefly utter a fast excuse to Ruby, drink her coffee in one go and see Tinkerbell grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

Regina hadn't slept properly the night before because of a certain sheriff plaguing her mind, so, when she went to the diner and saw the thief, her pride was already hurt enough and she refused to be stopped by the silly feeling of guilty and purposely sat next to him, proceeding to help the man understand how the currency in this world worked.

Incredibly enough, the man turned out to be even more insufferable than Emma and the guilty she felt only grew when the blonde woman came inside the dinner looking so tired, so, after spending a good amount of time stealing glances at her, the queen decided it was better to leave and ignore the blonde.

Outside the restaurant she finally felt able to breathe properly.

Looking at the sky she tried to understand why that barely kiss had affected her so much or, more importantly, why she wanted it to have happened so much.

Not finding any answers, just as the night before, she sighed, passed her fingers through her hair, and proceeded to walk to her mansion.

After rounding a corner she saw Aalam walking to the same direction as her, only for him to turn around and barely run through an alley.

 _Now, that was really smooth._ \- She thought sarcastically.

 _He's too smart to act so suspicious and think I wouldn't suspect anything, he wants me to follow him. Very well then. Let's see what he had in mind._

Quickly following him through series of alleys and streets she saw herself in front of the Charming's apartment where the owners were currently talking with a unknown woman.

Looking at her Regina couldn't help but feel like she was forgetting something. Maybe she knew her from during the missing year.

Forgetting about the dark haired man, Regina decided to stay and try to find out some more about the red haired woman.

Once they finished talking Snow and David went inside while the woman went away through an alley, followed closely by Regina, once Zelena turned the corner the brunette started to walk faster and once she went through the same alley she found it completely empty.

Narrowing her eyes she stopped to think about what she could do next.

 _I certainly won't be letting her get anywhere near the Charmings, no normal human can simply disappear and if she has magic she could very well be the one who created the curse._

* * *

Back into his apartment the dark haired man felt quite proud of himself for being able to lead Regina to the witch.

Taking off his coat and massaging his neck, he sat down on the closest chair he could find.

At the table in front of him lay a little note he couldn't quite remember writing that said:

 _Why was the blonde so angry at me?_

He might not remember writing it, but he had an idea of where it might have come from, and since he knew the answer, he decided to write it down.

 _Because she thinks that you are in love with Regina._

 _Signed-_

 _..._

* * *

 **A/N -* Bam bam bam* What did he sign as? Why would he sign another name if not his own? Wait up to next chapter and you shall see.**

 **Have a nice day dear readers! Be safe!**

 **And if you have the time, please review xD**

 **Till next time!**


	5. Gold Raven

**A/N - And after a week, we are back xD. For those who were waiting, sorry for the delay e-e, the first three days were my fault because I was just feeling too lazy to write lol but then my internet fell and it's only been back yesterday e-e, so sorry T-T again.**

 **Again, neither me nor my co-author, our dear withgirl own nothing, neither of The Cold Heart story nor Once Upon A Time, this story is being created solely for entertainment purpose and to practice our writing skills xD and al** **l error are ours.**

 **Now, without further delay.**

* * *

Henry dozed peacefully on the couch, his Xbox controller having dropped to the ground just has he had finished his latest quest.

His eyes were forced open as the door swung loudly open, the Nolan's entering deep in conversation.

"David, we have to talk about this," Mary Margaret said with an exasperated sigh.

The pair stomped over to the kitchen, and Henry knew he probably should not listen to their marriage issues, but the man's reply caused him to continue to pretend to sleep.

"I don't want to talk about the possibility of Emma and Regina," David said as he began bustling around the kitchen.

Henry felt eyes burning into him, and he imagined that they were making sure that he wasn't eavesdropping, so he began making soft snoring sounds, which seemed to convince them that they were safe to talk.

"It's not a question of wanting or not to." Snow said in a lower tone of voice, wary of the seemingly sleeping teenager on the couch. "This is serious David! If something is happening or is about to happen with these two we need to be prepared to help Emma through it! For better or for worse!"

 _'I knew it!'_ Thought the boy, it all made sense now, why his mother would want him to bond with the mayor so much, why the brunette would always try to win him over, how she was always somewhat nervous in her interactions with his mother when he was near and, even more so, the secretive looks they exchanged when no one was looking, it had been all too suspicious, besides, he always had a hunch that his mother wasn't straight, and somehow he felt the same could be said about Regina.

"And what do you suggest we should do, Snow?" The blond sighed, finally giving in to his wife's wishes. "Keep them apart? Try to talk Emma out of it? She's a grown woman. She knows how to take care of herself."

"I would never do something like that, David! I trust Regina and I know she would take good care of Emma." She sighed. "But we need to make sure Emma knows we are here to support her and even more so to make sure these two 'stubbornness' doesn't get in their way." She finished with a little smile.

Looking deep into each other eyes the Charming couple had a silent conversation all of their own and silently agreed on how to proceed.

"They really do complete each other perfectly, don't they?" Charming said at last with a small but genuine smile while processing all the times he had ignored their connection and that seemed so obvious now. "But I still don't think we should interfere. If they are meant to be, fate will find a way." To that Snow agreed with a little nod and smile of her own.

 _'They may not want to interfere, but no one said anything about me helping them out_ ' The teenager thought with a little smirk he couldn't quite contain even while pretending to sleep, one quite reminiscent of the other mother he forgot he had. _'Let operation Gold Raven begin'._

A small ringing sound interrupted the couple, and Snow looked down at her phone. There was more silence as she turned it towards Charming and allowed him to read the text from the mayor, ' **have found more information, I believe the red headed woman you had been talking to earlier on may be the Wicked Witch of the West herself.'**

As soon as Charming finished reading, he swallowed hard and suggested, "I think we need to call a town meeting."

Snow nodded, and turned to the couch speaking louder this time, "Henry, sweetheart, do you want to go to the diner for dinner?"

* * *

At Granny's, being watched by Ruby, was Henry, currently sipping his cup of hot chocolate while shaking his head at his own obliviousness.

' _I have to go to a town meeting_ ' His mother had said. ' _She has never been involved in politics before, but then we skip to Maine, she insists that I get along with the mayor and now she is a assiduous member of the community policies._ ' He snorted. ' _The most ridiculous thing here is why I ever needed a confirmation that something was going on between these two.'_

Smiling at the thought of his blonde mother finally having a partner worthy of her, the boy kept writing down what he knew about mayor Regina and how he could possibly help their relationship to start, or if it already had, how to make them close enough for Emma to feel safe to tell him about them.

So focused was he at his scribbles that he didn't notice the tall man sitting across from him nor how said man read all about his 'Gold Raven' operation.

"You are not getting anywhere with so little information." The boy was startled by the man's comment.

"Hey! Hasn't anyone taught you that reading what other people are writing is a invasion of privacy not to mention plain out creepy?" As much as the mysterious man's comment was valid, he wasn't prone to trust just about anyone but himself with his mother's happiness.

"Sorry." The man raised his hands. "I know it was wrong, but I was curious and since I read it already I thought about offering my services."

Looking at the man with non concealed mistrust, the boy asked. "And what would you get from it?"

"I own Regina more than you could ever understand." The man answered seriously, looking deeply into the teen's eyes to make sure he saw the truth reflected on his expression. "If being with this blonde woman will make her happy, I will make sure they get to spend the rest of their lives together."

The man sounded truthful enough, so, deciding to go with his gut feeling of trusting the man, Henry extended his hand for him to shake. "I suppose I will accept help in any way I can get it. I'm Henry Swan and you?"

"Aalam, Aalam Shadowfallow." He answered while shaking the boy's hand.

* * *

The townspeople began to gather in town hall, as Snow paced in a small circle much to Regina's irritation.

"I hired the wicked witch as my nanny?" she asked again, "Are you sure?"

Regina ran a hand across her face, "I'm quite sure."

"Shouldn't she be like...green?" Emma asked from her seat.

Regina shook her head, and without turning around she replied, "how lucky we are to have such a great and bright saviour on our side."

Emma scowled at the woman's back and Snow and Charming exchanged a look.

"I felt a kind of magic...it's difficult to explain exactly, but I know that she's very powerful."

"That doesn't mean she's a villain," Emma pointed out.

Regina sighed and turned to look at the unhelpful blonde, "why are you here?"

"I'm the sheriff," Emma retorted rising to her feet.

"I don't recall giving you that position back."

The blonde opened her mouth to reply, only to realise that she had about one hundred pairs of eyes on her.

Regina and Emma each turned at the same time to see the many curious looks they were being given, and Snow quickly cleared her throat.

"Thank you everyone for coming to the meeting, we think that we found some information on the missing year that we wish to share with you," Snow announced.

"I think we already know whose fault this all is," a random voice called.

Charming shook his head, "it wasn't Regina."

Said woman scowled at the man and stepped forward, "I believe that it may have something to do with the Wicked Witch of the West."

There were collective whispers throughout the room, and some calls of disbelief.

"She's just trying to cover what she did," someone shouted.

"Shut up!" Emma shouted back.

Everyone fell silent a moment later the blonde continued, "it wasn't Regina, and it would be really helpful if you would stop trying to convince each other that it was."

"You expect us to believe her on her word," Grumpy called.

Snow looked at the dwarf and stepped next to Regina, and whispered, "you do have proof don't you?"

Regina let out a frustrated sigh and replied, "I didn't want to call this meeting, I told you it was just a feeling."

Snow nodded, "we will have proof."

The group began shouting their disapproval, and Regina put her hand in her head, already feeling a headache coming. _I think I may hate everyone here_ , she thought.

"Put the cross-bow down," Charming warned, which Granny ignored.

Suddenly, a screeching sound interrupted the havoc, and everyone turned to see a winged monkey on its hind legs standing in the open doorway. Behind it stood a smirking red-headed woman, dressed in all black with a green hat.

"Now I have proof," Regina whispered, and Snow just nodded as she stared at her supposed midwife.

"Why is it that everyone in this town is so insufferable?" Zelena asked as she glided into the room.

Regina stopped herself from agreeing with her, and ignited a fireball in her hand.

"Who are you?"

Zelena furrowed her brow, "I thought you remembered."

"What?" Charming asked as he looked between the two, trying to understand why he saw a resemblance. Granny trained her crossbow on the intruder, who just waved her hand. The flying monkey let out another screech and flew towards Granny, knocking the weapon out of her hand, but it could do anything more, a fire ball made contact with its back, and it disintegrated. Granny looked dumbfounded at the mayor, who simply continued to look at the witch before her.

"Remembered what?"

Zelena shook her head, now realising that she may have been too rash. When Regina had looked at her in that alley, she was sure that she had seen a spark of recognition, but she was coming to believe that she had been wrong.

Letting out a languid sigh, she approached the other woman, and decided that she might as well enjoy the dramatic moment while she had the chance.

"I suppose there's no reason to continue the charade," walking straight into the other woman's personal space, and ignoring the sound of two guns being drawn she smiled manically.

"Who are you?" Regina asked with narrowed eyes, gesturing for Charming and Emma to lower their guns, though the female blonde was much more reluctant.

Revelling at the chance to do this again, she critically inspected the smaller woman for a moment.

"I have to say, I'm hurt that you don't remember me, little sister."

Collective gasps sounded through the room, and Regina shook her head.

"We are not sisters," she said with an exasperated sigh, why do I have to attract crazy people?

"Of course a privileged little brat like you wouldn't like the idea of having an older sister," she replied with narrowed eyes.

Did father have an affair? Regina instantly dismissed the thought, and though she didn't quite believe it she had a sneaking suspicion of how they were related.

Snow looked between the two of them, and Charming seemed to finally understand the resemblance.

"Cora had another child?" Snow asked.

The two sisters looked at Mary Margaret, who suddenly felt incredibly intimidated.

"She had one that she chose to keep," Zelena sneered.

Of course mother hasn't finished torturing me even in death, Regina internally sighed.

"Assuming you're telling the truth, what do you want?"

"All in good time sis, you should know that revealing the plan too early isn't the best course to success. Look at your precious curse," she laughed.

Regina rolled her eyes, and felt the need to give Emma a searing look, but managed to refrain.

"So why are you here?"

"I have a proposition," she replied calmly.

Regina raised her eyebrow and looked at the woman expectantly, though internally she was trying not to notice that they had the same facial structure.

"Tomorrow at sundown, I want you to meet me outside that abysmal diner, and we can see who the best daughter truly is."

Regina gave her a disbelieving look, and had to resist the urge to ask are you serious?

"And if I don't show up?"

"It would be better for my dearest nephew if you did," a split second later Zelena heard a gun being cocked and smirked. As the bullet flew out of the chamber she disappeared in a cloud of green smoke.

Regina turned to the blonde and gave her a withering look, "what is wrong with you?"

"I was aiming for her shoulder," Emma defended angrily.

"Okay, stop it!" Snow shouted, "you two go to the mayor's office right now and talk."

Both women were about to refuse, but Snow threw her arm out angrily in the direction of the brunettes office. They each sighed and began to walk in that direction.

* * *

 **A/N - Am I the only one who loves how Snow treated them like children in the end? No? I found it funny.**

 **Also, did you guys like Aalam's last name? I even came up with a really complex explanation for it if anyone is wondering why I chose it xD**

 **Henry is one sneaky boy, but he doesn't like people sneaking on him though xD, now, children don't go around intruding on people's privacy u-u, that's just wrong.**

 **Well, that's all I have to say xD, see you guys next chapter! (Hopefully).**


	6. Picking Apples

**A/N- Back once again u-u, don't really have much to say though...**

 **Well, we still owe nothing but the plot of this story. Entertainment purpose only.**

 **No beta, all mistakes are ours.**

 **Now I hope you enjoy the story ^^.**

* * *

 _"Hey Gina," Aalam smirked, "want to help me pick apples?"_

 _Regina looked over the top of the book that she had been set to study with a small smirk playing on her twelve-year-olds lips._

 _"You know I can't," she replied and the excitable servant just shook his head and sat next to her._

 _"Your parents have gone into town, my mother said they won't be back till dinner."_

 _Regina threw the book on the desk which was met with a laugh from her friend._

 _"Why do you want to pick apples?" She asked._

 _Aalam furrowed his brow, "have you never done it?"_

 _Regina shook her head, and the boy stood up dramatically._

 _"Let's rectify that shall we, trust me, by the end of today you'll love apples more than you would ever have thought possible."_

 _Regina giggled in disbelief, and proceeded to follow the servant boy to the family orchard._

 _Two hours of climbing trees and picking the best apples later, the two walked towards the kitchen with two baskets of the best the Mills family estate had to offer._

 _"You know this means that I'll be behind on my studies now," Regina sighed._

 _"You had fun for once so who cares?"_

 _"I care deeply," an unexpected voice interrupted._

 _Each child's face dropped instantly and Aalam cringed._

 _Turning in a somewhat comical way, they each came face to face with a very angry Cora._

 _"Mother," Regina choked out fearfully, "you're early."_

 _Cora narrowed her eyes at the girl, "then please forgive me," she replied sardonically._

 _Regina swallowed hard as she realised her folly, "I'm sorry mother, I just meant-"_

 _Cora help up her hand to silence her and continued, "For this clear insubordination you must be punished."_

 _Regina paled and Aalam felt guilt stab at his gut, "please ma'am-" he began, and Cora looked at him as if she only just realised that he were there._

 _"Run along boy," she said dismissively._

 _Regina gave Aalam a slight nod of encouragement, but he simply shook his head, "please ma'am, this was my idea. She was studying before I convinced her to abandon the book."_

 _Cora inspected him again, this time much more critically, "and which one are you?"_

 _"Aalam, I'm the cook's son."_

 _Cora raised her eyebrow at the boy, "okay Aalam and what would you have me do to resolve this situation?"_

 _"Errr...you should punish me instead of Regina," he said, though his confidence seemed to waver._

 _Regina blanched at her friend, she was sure that nothing could possibly prepare him for her mother's brand of punishment._

 _Cora looked between the two children, "I suppose it would only be fair if both of you were punished."_

 _The next morning Henry Sr. let out an exasperated sigh as he searched for his daughter. When he couldn't find her in her bed chambers, he knew she must be under some punishment. It was for this reason that he had taken to checking every morning to see whether she was in her bed. Unfortunately, today was one of those days when she was nowhere to be found._

 _He had already checked Cora's favourite spots, so now he went where she had to be especially angry to send their daughter to, her heart vault. He knew the disembodied beating hearts terrified Regina and he had often found her curled up in a ball sobbing by the time he had found her. So he began to run as fast as his feet would take him._

 _As soon as he pushed the door open and the sound of hundreds lost hearts filled his ears, he saw that he had been right about his wife's chosen punishment. But what he didn't expect was to see Regina asleep on the shoulder of a boy who seemed to have stayed awake all night with his hands covering Regina's ears._

 _The boy looked up fearfully when the door opened, but seemed to relax slightly when he saw it wasn't Cora, "good morning sir," he smiled weakly._

 _"What happened?" He whispered._

 _"I convinced Regina to go apple picking instead of studying," he replied with a downward cast look._

 _Henry nodded and smiled at the thought of his daughter actually having fun, "what is your name?" He asked kindly._

 _"Aalam sir."_

 _"Well, Aalam, you have my thanks. You are, of course, excused from your chores in order to catch up on sleep."_

 _Aalam smiled brightly and Regina began to stir._

 _Opening her eyes slightly, she tensed when she realised where she was but visibly relaxed when she saw Aalam was still there._

 _Then, looking up, she shouted, "daddy," and ran into his open arms as she did most mornings._

 _"Good morning, my little princess," he laughed as he picked her up._

-At town hall-

The sound of Snow roughly closing the door and locking it echoed through the space, now inhabited by two nervous and slightly angry women, both of which were giving their best effort to ignore the other, but, considering how they couldn't stop thinking about the other even when they were apart, doing it while the other was right there in front of them was virtually impossible, a fact that only served to make said women's blood boil more hotly in their veins.

Deciding that a more active distraction was in order, Regina went to her desk and started to organize some paperwork, much to Emma's chagrin.

"Really? You are going to ignore me even when we are locked together?!" Emma finally snapped, not even nearly ready to start a true and deep conversation with the brunette, but liking the idea of being given a cold shoulder even less.

The former queen slowly raised her head, as well as one of her eyebrows, to look at the sheriff. "And what else do you suggest we do?" The woman maintained a severe expression, daring the blonde to try to prove her wrong.

"Have a little 'heart to heart'?" She scoffed at the thought.

"You want to avoid this conversation as much as I do, so I suggest you watch your tone of voice and sit quietly until your dear mother deems fit to end this imprisonment." She finished, making a final sound by aligning her papers in her desk.

The blonde was now seething, not only because she wouldn't accept to be ordered about in such fashion, but, even more so, because she knew a part of her liked how bossy Regina could get 'Why in all hells would I think Regina being bossy is endearing?! Why?!' And the problem was, she knew the answer, and such resolution scared her beyond belief, so she let her metaphoric walls rise tall and get ready for battle but found that she couldn't keep them as high as before or for as long.

"Yes actually." She surprised them both by answering the brunette's earlier question positively.

"If the alternative to not having a conversation is to keep fighting, or worse, being ignored by you, then yes, I'd rather get this over with because I can't really bear the thought of losing you." The mayor stared, stunned by the sudden confession of the blonde. But before she could come up with an answer of her own, the suddenly afraid blonde decided to backtrack.

"As a friend, of course! You're like one of the only friends I have! A-and you know me better than anyone a-and..." Emma's ramble lost steam once Regina got up from her chair and started to walk to her, deep chocolate eyes that read her own emerald ones, understanding the fear of rejection she felt and immediately soothing it.

They were both afraid to admit certain things to themselves, but they would never reject the other if it meant they would suffer, because regardless of denial, they knew they would always overcome any obstacle for the other, even if said obstacle was their one deepest fear, 'rejection and abandonment,' they thought in unison while looking at each other.

Yet, now, these two words seemed entirely irrelevant, because they knew they would never be reject or abandoned by the other. They could feel the certainty of that in the moments they shared, and in the emotions reflected in their eyes.

So, there they stood, together. Regina's hand moved to fix an out of place strand of blonde hair and stayed there to caress pale skin, a gentle smile dancing in her lips, slowly being reflected on Emma's.

Growing closer, the mayor unoccupied hand came to rest on her waist, sliding carefully to the small of the sheriff's back, while both of the blonde's rested at her hips.

Smiles slowly dismissing with the seriousness of the situation, their eyes lost their focus on each other eyes and strayed to lips, only to go back, from lips to eyes and from eyes to lips, everything in a unhurried dance so unlike their usually disturbed life as a moment of peace in the middle of a storm.

Gravitating slowly toward each other, they felt their breaths mingle and suddenly their eyes stopped their dance, deciding to finally lock into eyes. Eyes that said everything their mouths could not, that showed better than any act what it was they were feeling. With one last thought to how perfect that all felt, they went for the kiss, only then to be stopped by the opening of a door.

With a terrible sense of deja-vu they jumped apart and looked in the direction of the intruder, only to come face to face with their son.

"H-Henry what are you doing here?" The clearly agitated blonde asked, desperately trying to not sound too accusing and to calm herself by passing her fingers through her hair.

"Hm..." The teenager mentally cursed himself. He had definitely interrupted something big and he couldn't even begin to express how much of an idiot he felt in that moment. 'Barely even started the operation and I already messed things up'

"Ruby wanted to see how things were going here and brought me with her..." He paused to observe both women, trying to assess the damage he had done.

Emma was clearly nervous, eyes darting constantly from him to Regina and she seemed to be silently cursing under her breath, as for Regina, the woman was able to maintain a more stoic expression but couldn't quite stop fidgeting, showing some nervous ticks that the boy picked on easily 'Sometimes it feels like I already know her...' but shrugging this absurd thought aside for he was sure he had never met the woman before, he continued his explanation.

"And Mary Margaret said you were both here... and that I was free to enter if I wanted to..." Even after gauging the women reactions he couldn't quite be sure of the state things were but he had his answer as soon as the brunette started hurriedly leaving the room.

"I'll leave you alone then." She had said without even giving a glance to the woman she was clearly about to kiss just some minutes ago, a fact that made Henry cringe and only made the blonde more agitated.

"No! Wait! Regin-" The door was closed without the mayor even uttering a proper goodbye, and the blonde cursed more loudly under her breath. Sighing dejectedly, Emma passed a hand through her hair and refocused her mind on her son.

"Hey kid." She offered him a sad smile that only made the boy mentally curse himself more profusely. Knowing that she wasn't fooling anyone, even less her increasingly more observant son, Emma simply gave up trying to act normal.

"Just let's go, okay?" She put a hand on the boy's shoulder and started to guide him away of the office.

* * *

 **A/N- So that was it, our ladies completely forgot they had magic for a second there xD**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as me and withgirl did while writing it ^^**

 **See you guys next chapter. Enjoy your day ^^.**


	7. Stay Away From My Daughter

**A/N- Here we have another chapter u-u, I changed the prompt to make it more interesting xD.**

 **Since it isn't possible to reply to guests I'd like to use this note to reply to R.S-M and personally thank for their support ^^, if you are reading this I hope you find the coming chapter even more interesting then the first ;P**

 **Well, same as always, we own nothing.**

 **And we are our own betas u-u, if you like the story please do review and also send withgirl some love she's just as amazing a person as she is a writer ^^ and if I may be truthful she was the one who wrote most of this chapter xD**

* * *

 _The neighing of horses sounded outside alongside the giggling being carried by the wind._

 _A sixteen-year-old Aalam dug the shovel violently into a pile of manure in the stables desperately trying to wash out the sounds of Regina's riding lesson._

 _Most days he didn't care that she was nobility and he was just a servant, mostly because most days it had no bearing on their relationship, she had never treated him as anything but her brother. In fact they had become so inseparable over the years that her father had joked that if he hadn't seen her birth he would swear that the were separated at birth._

 _That all begun to change since Cora had hired a new stable hand._

 _Now she either spent all of her time with Daniel or talking about him._

 _Her position meant that she was allowed to spend her days riding horses while he, the lowly servant, had to complete all of his chores 'without fail.'_

 _The galloping suddenly ceased and Aalam looked up with a furrowed brow as he looked outside the stable door, Regina walked towards him with a small smile and it seemed that Daniel had led the horse to the other set of stables on the Mills family estate._

 _"Hey Al," she greeted._

 _He simply gave her a quick smile and continued with his shovelling._

 _"What's wrong with you?" She sighed._

 _"Nothing," he said automatically, though the smashing of the shovel against the ground begged a differ._

 _"Do you not like Daniel?" She sighed as she leaned against the door._

 _Aalam's throat constricted at her words. It was just how much he liked Daniel that was the problem. He knew that Regina would have no issue with him liking men and he was sure that she would be the first that he would tell, but he cursed himself everyday that it had to be Regina's first love that he fell for._

 _"I don't really know him that well," he replied while skilfully turning away to hide his blush._

 _Regina nodded, an idea forming in her mind. Aalam had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what she was going to say, and he sincerely hoped that she wouldn't say it._

 _"Then you must get to know him!" She declared, "there is no reason that you wouldn't like him once you spend even a few minutes with him."_

 _Aalam closed his eyes in frustration. He had spent plenty of time with the stable hand. In fact it had been his job to induct him to the estate and it was Aalam that Daniel always came to whenever he had questions. It was during this time that he had developed his crush and he wished everyday that it would go away._

 _"And what did you have in mind?" He asked through gritted teeth._

 _Regina was silent for a moment, before she seemed to have a spark of inspiration, "mother and father are travelling next week, so you can have dinner with the two of us and get to know him."_

 _"Sounds like a great idea," Aalam replied with a fake smile._

 _Regina ran forward and gave him a quick hug, "I need to get back to studying before mother notices that I doubled my riding lesson," she laughed before she ran away._

 _Aalam turned back to the manure and brought the shovel down, it smashed against the ground and the bottom split in two. With a resigned sigh he went off in search of another._

* * *

Waking up, Aalam got slightly startled at being in a different place, but in no time he remembered where he was.

"Ah, yes, I'm 'home' " He snorted humourlessly at this thought, he hadn't had a home since a long time ago. Since he had sold his soul to the devil and decided to burn the person closest to him with the fire of betrayal. 'Regina...'

And there it was, the guilt that he now associated with the thought of the brunette. 'There has to be something I can do to make up things with her. She's all I have...'

Sighing he raised his head from the table he seemed to have fallen asleep at and put his face in his hands to rub his eyes in a attempt to wake himself more fully.

Once he put his hands on his face though he came in contact with a paper that he might have been sleeping above. 'What the...?' Taking the paper he only remembered having written a question to it so it was with much surprise that he found an answer written in a different calligraphy than his own.

Why was the blonde so angry at me?

That had been his question.

Because she thinks you are in love with Regina.

Signed- Henry Mills

That was the answer and with it he remembered another deal he had made, this time for something good.

* * *

-Flashback of days before-

 _The smoke cleared and Aalam blinked a few times. The last thing he remembered was enjoying the company of a man he had met in a tavern, then purple smoke had bellowed across the land, and he woke up in this place. He had of course spent a lot of time hearing about Storybrooke, and how it was so much better than their world._

 _Honestly, he was just glad to be free of the infernal time freeze, he never had any wish to see this cursed land, but it would seem that he had no choice._

 _He felt a pounding in his chest, and shakily he brought his hand up. He felt a heart beating against his palm, something that he hadn't felt in years._

 _Letting out a ragged breath he felt a flood of emotion. Anger. Sadness. Regret. It all came down upon him in full force and there was one person that he thought about: Regina._

 _A screeching sound brought him out of his complete and utter shock, he just had time to furrow his brow before the unfamiliar metal contraption sped towards him, and a second later everything went black._

 _Aalam opened his eyes a moment later._

 _The all consuming pain had disappeared, with only the pain in his heart remaining._

 _He swallowed hard and tried to inspect his new surroundings, but it seemed that he was standing in some kind of dark oblivion._

 _Rubbing his hand across his face, he began to feel panic._

 _"Calm down, child," a voice chuckled darkly._

 _Aalam looked up, to see Henry Sr. "am I dead?"_

 _"Not yet," he replied as he approached his former servant._

 _Aalam stepped away from him; by all rights this man should hate him. He had after all abandoned her daughter in her time of greatest need. He now had no doubt that he could have stopped everything the Evil Queen had done if had not been such a coward and had remained by her side._

 _"Not yet?" he asked in a shaky voice, a far cry from the demanding voice of the heartless man he was._

 _"Your body is being kept alive by Storybrooke's doctors, but your soul is in purgatory."_

 _Aalam furrowed his brow, "why would I be allowed in purgatory," he had thought for sure that he knew where he was going after death, but this somehow felt like a second chance._

 _"I believe your returned heart had allowed you to feel remorse."_

 _Aalam nodded solemnly, he definitely felt it. He had spent years not even thinking about his childhood friend and now she was all that he could think about, all he wanted to do was make it right, but he knew that would be an almost impossible feat._

 _"Do you want to make right what you did?" he asked, his former master approached him and put his hand on his shoulder. He had always liked Aalam, when he found out what he did to her, he saw how it hurt his daughter far more than anything that Leopold did to her. But he also saw the hurt on the servants face when he thought his friend wasn't looking. Though Regina had always been a far more observant person than most nobility, she had clearly been oblivious of Aalam's feelings until it was too late. He had seen him comforting her following Daniel's death, clearly never being allowed to grieve himself. Love was enough to make any snap, so he harboured no hate for the man, especially if he agreed to his insane plan to help his daughter._

 _"If I am dead..." he began, but Henry held up his hand._

 _"No, I am dead, you are simply in between. I have no doubt that their medicine is capable of keeping you alive, all you need is to be willing to return to your body."_

 _Aalam swallowed hard. The thing was that he wasn't exactly sure whether he was prepared to return to his body. His emotions seemed to be somewhat dulled here, though they were still overwhelming. He didn't know whether he was prepared to return to a place where they may destroy him._

 _"How would that help her?" he asked after a moment._

 _Henry Sr. sighed and replied, "I have watched my daughter be miserable under her curse for three decades. Now I have had to watch her ignore her happy ending for four years. All I need is a chance to show her what she is missing, I have to help her."_

 _"You have spent your life helping her," Aalam said with a confused expression, "do you really think she would enjoy the idea that you have spent your death watching her be miserable?"_

 _"I spent my life as a coward, and now I have had the chance of watching the consequences. If I had only stood up to Cora, Regina may have been happy in our world, she would have lived her life how she wanted. I need to make sure that she is able to," he ranted._

 _Aalam's eyes widened as he realised what he was proposing, "you expect me to just give you my body."_

 _"No, of course not," Aalam sighed in relief, before Henry added, "I'm asking that you will allow me to return with you, just until I have ensured that she is happy."_

 _"You want me to share my body," Aalam scoffed._

 _Henry put his head in his hands, "I'm being ridiculous," he realised, "I know I am asking too much of you."_

 _An image of Regina begging him to stay in the castle with her flashed into Aalam's mind. The image of complete and utter pain she felt as he had brought up Daniel._

 _"I agree," he finally said, "you should have the chance to help your daughter."_

 _Henry turned with his eyebrows raised, though he was sporting a hopeful smile._

 _As if from another realm, Aalam heard an unfamiliar voice announce "charge to two hundred...charge...clear."_

 _The King of the Ballroom felt a pull as his spirit was being called back to his revived body, he instantly reached out and grabbed Henry's hand, together they fell_

 _backwards, through the borders of purgatory and into the land of the living._

* * *

With that Aalam finally realised what had been happening all along and was able to feel the other soul that now shared the same body as himself and understood why there were so many things he couldn't remember happening because it hadn't really been him to experiment them at all.

Rapidly planning a course of action he wrote down all he had experienced in the last feel days and hoped the old man would get the message to do the same.

Not wanting to wait to know more about what may happen the man promptly got up to make a sleeping potion for himself, that way Henry Sir would have the opportunity to disclose everything he had learnt to him.

 **A/N- And BOOM we've come to the big reveal and sh*t is about to go down lol**

 **Have a good day ^^, hope to see you next chapter.**


	8. Note

**So, as many of you may have deducted, I don't really plan on continuing this story's writing, both because of life getting in the way and because I lost my inspiration to do so.**

 **Fortunately though, this piece here was co-authored and my friend will now take over the project by herself and I will be helping with the trajectory of the story and might even write an chapter or two, I will also be betaing it, as well as I do to all other stories she writes, so, if any of you are interested in seeing where this story will end up, go to withgirl's profile and follow the story there.**

 **It was an interesting trip to write this story but alas it was not meant to be, I do thank everyone who took the time to favorite, follow and review this story, I will always be grateful for your contribution.**

 **For those who follow me as an author, I do intend to finish my Cursed Puppies project, more to myself than to other people, so I can't promise to be punctual but I do promise to finish it eventually. Thank you all for your consideration and I apologize for any inconvenience my delay may have caused now, for one last time, I wish you all a good day and that you may enjoy your future readings.**

-Queen Apples.


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